Cicadas Screaming
by EvilShrew
Summary: It's been a long time since Rena last felt the pain of being bullied. Suddenly, her past resurfaces, and threatens to drag her and her friends to a deep, blood stained hell. Rated T FOR NOW. It will be M by Chapter 6, but T so people can find it .
1. Cicadas Screaming

**A/N: Hello all your Higurashi (or possibly not ;D) fans! This is my first attempt at a Higurashi fiction, and I hope I do it justice!**

**My thanks go out to my good friend Chell (skitts) for introducing me to Higurashi. You rock ;D,**

**DISCLAIMER: The characters and events (including my own original characters) in the following text are purely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people alive or dead is purely coincidental, as with the events that transpire. **

**Also, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei belong to the respective owners.**

**This story contains graphic descriptions of gore and violence, which may disturb some readers. I am not to be held responsible for misuse of this fiction.**

**Chapter 1 – Cicadas Screaming**

It was the simple task of entering the girls bathroom that found Rena pinned against the dirty tiled wall. Now, Rena wasn't the sort of girl who usually found herself in such situations. She was always careful to be nice and polite to everyone she met, to avoid such awkward encounters. However, the 'just-smile-and-hope-everything-works-out-okay' approach hadn't been working too well at her new school in Hinamizawa.

A tug on her arm found her face-to-face with a grinning Shion. "Well, well, well… Look who it is," smirked the green haired girl, a grin spreading across her face. Rena squealed. If this was Shion, then it must have been Mion who had her arms in a tight grip.

She had two options here; try to escape, or bite her lip and accept the fact that these girls were stronger than her, especially as a pair.

_Well… Let's take a look at each option carefully_, thought Rena, though now was hardly the time nor the place for a long debate about the pros and cons of each idea. _I've never _had _to fight anyone off before, so I wouldn't know what to do. I mean, I guess I could try and break free, or… or something… But there are _two _of them! Besides, they look like people who wouldn't hesitate to stab/torture/zap with a tazer gun anyone who stood in there way._

_So…_

_I just stand here and _let _them kill me?_

…

_Maybe not._

She began to thrash around, hoping that maybe it would loosen Mion's grip on her, and then she'd be able to make a dash for it out of the door.

Doing this, however, just made Mion tighten her grip. Shion, on the other hand, merely laughed at her. "You think you can escape that easily!?" spat Shion, bringing her clenched fist into Rena's abdomen.

Rena doubled in pain, as much as Mion would allow her, before she forced Rena back up, only for another blow by Shion.

"S-stop!" cried Rena, tears stinging her eyes.

"Pathetic…" Shion laughed, grabbing Rena's ginger hair and dragging her face up.

"W-why are you doing this to me!? What have I done!?" she sobbed.

Shion pondered for a moment, and a grin spread across her face. "Nothing in particular," she said. "We just don't like you." With those harsh words, Shion's free fist was brought back into Rena's stomach with a sickening crunch, prompting a handful of pained squeals from the still-captured Rena.

"But Shii~on," said Mion in a light, sing-song sort of voice; a tone which would have been better suited to a 'funfunfun' game of karaoke. It made Rena feel sick. Or perhaps that was from the punch Shion had oh-so-kindly given her? "You're the one having all the fun. This is kinda boring."

"Oh yeah," said Shion, frowning a little. "Twins should share everything, right?"

"Right. It's only sisterly."

"Mmmn. I guess," Shion shrugged, turning a little – before swinging her fist roughly into Rena's shoulder, almost as an afterthought. Once more, Rena whined, though she attempted to hide it by biting down her lower lip. However, she couldn't hide the agony on her face, or the tears in her eyes.

"Truly sad," sighed Mion, shaking her head, before handing the quivering pile of limbs and pain that was Ryuugu Rena to her sister. "It's so sad it's almost not fun, like kicking a puppy or something."

"Yeah, but puppies don't plead for mercy."

Mion laughed, and raised her fist. Rena looked at it, the fear clearly shown in her face.

Mion hesitated, looking down into Rena's pained face. _Could she do it..._

"Come on, sis, just DO it," laughed Shion. And with that, Mion brought her fist crashing into Rena's head.

Rena fell to floor in a pile, a slow trickle of blood coming from her nose.

"Oh crap!" shouted Mion, running for the door, with Shion on her heels.

…

_Why has it happened to me again...? In my old town, this happened, that's why we moved... But it's happening here too. Why... WHY!?_

_This is not fair! I try to be kind to everyone, and yet they're always so cruel to me..._

_I just want a friend, someone who will be kind to me..._

_Someone..._

_I don't want to move again._

The door to the girls bathroom slowly pushed open. Through the small gap came a blue haired girl, Rika. She walked towards the pile on the floor that was Rena.

"Rena... Wake up..." she whispered.

**A/N: Thank you for reading it ^_^. If you liked it and want more, reviews inspire me, so, go crazy! ;D**

**The gore and proper story are to come, so I hope you're looking foward to it.**


	2. Chapter 1 Docile

**A/N: Hello! Second chapter! Woo hoo! The reason why this took SO LONG to upload was due to the fact that I lost the file during a computer formatting. I thought I'd have to cancel it, but then I found it on a random memory stick, so I was very happy! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and it's a little lighter than the last ^_^.**

**There will be no arc changes in this, and it should be quite long... **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy it ;D**

**I dedicate this chapter to my good friend, Danmaku, since he inspired me to write this chapter, haha XD.**

**DISCLAIMER: The basics apply. Check the first chapter for the FULL disclaimer.**

**Chapter 2 – Docile**

"I'll see you later!" called Rena, cheerfully shutting her house door.

It was a bright, warm day in Hinamizawa. The cicadas were screeching in their usual tones, the sun was covered by a light covering of clouds and the gentle trickle of a stream was hidden in the background.

Rena set off in a brisk walk on her way to school. The dusty trail leading to the center of town was surrounded by abundant wildlife; green trees blowing gently in the breeze, an insect hopping from one flower to the next.

This is what Rena liked about Hinamizawa. It was calm, tranquil and the weather was, relatively speaking, quite nice.

"Keiichi-kun!" called Rena, as she noticed the brown haired boy walking ahead on the path. Keiichi turned and smiled, as Rena set off in a slow jog to catch up with him.

"Good morning, Rena," Keiichi smiled at the bright haired girl. He was slightly taller than Rena, and had short hair, which didn't really have any style to it.

He wasn't really sporty and didn't have any special talents, but Rena thought he was a very kind boy.

He had been in Hinamizawa around a month, and had moved here because of his fathers business contract.

"It's a nice day today, isn't it? Isn't it?" Rena looked towards Keiichi.

"I guess, but it's almost always nice in Hina... Hiza..." Keiichi stuttered. Rena stopped and smiled. "Hinamizawa," she giggled.

"Hey, it's hard to pronounce with my accent!" sighed Keiichi, scratching his head.

"That's not an accent, it's a speech impediment!" laughed Rena. Keiichi glared at her.

Rena and Keiichi rounded the corner, about 10 minutes later, and the small town school came into view. It wasn't like your average school. Because of the size of Hinamizawa, all students, no matter what age or grade, were all grouped into one class. That meant a lot of the time, students were helping each other, as the teacher had to deal with different level work for almost every student.

Opening the door, she was greeted by Rika and Satako, younger classmates of hers.

"Good morning, Rena and Keiichi-san," said Rika, her long blue hair bouncing as she spoke.

"Good morning, Rika," smiled Keiichi.

"No greeting for me!?" cried Satako.

Satako had shoulder length blonde hair, and looked rather innocent, but she was known to be particularly devious to Keiichi.

"Nope," pouted Keiichi, dodging a swipe from Satako and running for the classroom. Satako span round, and chased him, shouting.

Rika sighed, and followed shortly behind.

The only girl left in the hallway, Rena, smiled and walked towards the classroom. When she had started here, she didn't have any friends. She was happy that Keiichi had started off his time in Hinamizawa better than she had.

Rena reached the classroom door, but before she had a chance to even reach for the handle, the door slid sideways and on the other side appeared Mion.

"Good morning, Rena-chan!" chimed Mion.

"Good morning, Mii-chan!" sang Rena back to her. Mion... Mion and her twin Shion had used to bully Rena almost all the time. It was extremely hard to tell them apart, both had the same extremely long green hair, usually tied in a ponytail (in Mion's case, anyway), both were the same height and both of them talked the same.

Shion had moved away from Hinamizawa sometime last year, but was only in the neighboring town.

_I'm so glad that Mion is my friend now... It was rather odd that she'd suddenly change though... Maybe it had something to do with-_

"Rena-chan, Rena-chan!" Mion sang, "Stop daydreaming and get into class!"

"Ah!" Rena snapped back into reality. "Sorry!" she called, following Mion who had already set off for her seat.

The teacher rang the bell, and all the students started packing up and setting off home.

The sun was still shining in the sky, and there was not even the slightest of cloud covering.

Mion yawned, standing up. "It's a nice day... What do you say we meet up at the shrine later?" Rena, who had just finished gathering her stuff, turned to Mion.

"Sounds like a good idea!" she smiled.

"Hey, Rika, Satako!" called Mion, "We're meeting at the shrine later, want to come with us?" The two girls turned, and agreed.

Keiichi walked up to the group, "Count me in!" he smiled.  
"Nobody invited you, idiot." Satako glared at Keiichi.

"Hey, you didn't even arrange this, so I don't think you can decide who goes and who doesn't!"

"Shut up, idiot," she laughed, as the group set off for their homes.

"You can sure tell it's the start of summer," sighed Mion, as she and Rena walked along the path heading towards their homes.

The cicadas were still persistently humming, and the sun was, slowly, sinking into the horizon. Keiichi had gone to buy some dinner (his parents were away for the evening), so that just left Rena and Mion walking home.

Rena walked along silently, deep in thought, staring straight at the sky.

"Are you okay, Rena-chan?"

"Wha-? Oh, yeah. I'm fine, hehe." Rena smiled, and continued walking. A few moments of tranquil silence ensued, before Mion raised her voice again.

"Rena...? Are you sure you're okay...?" Rena stopped, staring at her feet. The cicadas were screeching, and the sound of running water, most likely from a stream, could be heard in the distance. Mion stared at Rena.

"R-Rena...?"

"Why did you become my friend, Mion!?" Rena panted, seemingly exhausted from just pushing the question out of her. Mion, on the other hand, was hanging her head, but remaining defiantly silent.

"I'm sorry, Mii-chan..." sighed Rena. "That wasn't very nice, and Rena is usually a nice girl." The silence that followed this comment was stiflingly eerie.

…_?_

"_**Rena shouldn't ask questions that could make Mion angry."**_

Rena stared, taken aback by Mion's outburst. The green haired girls eyes had become milky, as if they were focusing on something in the distance.

Rena hiccuped, sobbed, then ran off down the path.

"I-I'm so sorry, M-Mii-chan!" she cried.

Running down the path, she held her hand to her face, to stop the tears which were dripping down her eyes.

_Why did I ask her, I made her angry!? I should have just left it._

She continued to run, until she noticed a patch of trees. She stumbled into the dark shrubbery, and slipped to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably.

At first, when she opened her eyes, she thought she'd gone blind. It was only when she saw a little light in the distance did Rena realize that she must have fallen asleep among the bushes and trees.

She pushed herself up, brushed the twigs and dead leaves off, and walked back out onto the path.

_I really have to get home now, it's very late..._

She set back off in the opposite direction to what she was running early, realizing that she had blundered off on the complete wrong way from the shock of the earlier events.

The events in question still hung in her mind, and would not go away.

_Those eyes... I think she was really angry with me..._

She came to the area where Mion and her had stood earlier, and stared at into the distance. What had made Mion act that way? Something must have annoyed her, but Rena could only think it was her choice of words.

_'Why did you become my friend?_' _How tactless.._

She stared at the spot where they had stood for perhaps a little too long, as she had begun to imagine those eyes glaring at her through the foliage surrounding her.

Shaking off this bizarre thought, she turned and took the other path to her home.

"I'm home," called Rena, as she entered her house with a bang of the door.

"Rena!? Where were you!?" Rena's father called from the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, I decided to do some studying at the community library," It was a lie, obviously.

"Well, Mion called," (Rena froze), "You were supposed to meet her at the shrine today. You must have forgotten? That's not like you."

Rena gasped. She'd forgotten to go to shrine!? How would that look with Mion, who she had already annoyed earlier?

She was frightened to imagine how Mion would react tomorrow at school.

"I don't feel too good, I'm going to go to bed early," gulped Rena.

"But, you haven't eaten yet!?" But it was too late, as Rena had already bounded upstairs and bolted her door shut.

Inside her room, it was dark, and it unnerved Rena. She stumbled towards the light, and after turning it on, collapsed onto her futon. She sighed deeply, and closed her eyes.

"Rena has had a long day, huh?"

She let her eyes close slowly, listening to the distant call of the cicada.

_BRING~ BRING~_

Rena bolted upwards, and reached over to the phone.

_Could it be... Mion?_

"Hello, Ryuguu residence?"

"_Rena? This is Rika, nano desu. You didn't come to the shrine today. I thought I'd ring to see if you are okay?"_

Rena sighed. It was only Rika. Loosening up, she held the phone closer to her ear.

"Oh, Rena is fine, just a little tired."

"_That's good then, nipa~."_

Rena gave a unenthusiastic giggle.

"_I can bring some sake if that would make Rena feel better?"_

"It's fine, Rika-chan. I should probably go, though, and get some sleep."

"_Okay, I hope you feel rejuvenated soon, mii~"_

And she had hung up.

Rena's phone call with Rika had at least made her feel a little more at ease. For some reason, she felt close to Rika, like she could count on her. She mulled it over for a while, but ended up concluding that it was something to do with how cute she was.

She stared at the ceiling for a while, before falling asleep surrounded by her stuffed toys.

…

"_Nee-sama... I feel so sorry for Rena. What can I do? I'm still not sure whether... I can trust her. I don't think she knows about then, but... The stories scare me."_

"_She brought it up today, and I didn't know how to reply. It was just a blank from then on. I hope I didn't get too upset."_

"_She didn't show up at the shrine earlier. I was going to apologize, but, I know you wouldn't have wanted that... I'm sorry, but I couldn't carry on what you had started. I couldn't after what happened..."_

"_Nee-sama... I don't know what to do... Help me?"_

…

_Bnnnnnnn-._

-------------------------------

_Be careful when talking to strangers._

_They may not be as 'strange' as you think._

_The pain may hurt now, but think strong, and you can win the coming days._

_Next time: The face of the stranger._

_Higurashi no Naku Koro ni._

_Can you believe in it?_

--------------------------------

**Wheee, I'm happy I got this chapter finished. I really liked the start, but I think Rena got a bit too angsty towards the end. I hope you're confused and wondering what's coming next, haha! That was my plan!**

**Look forward to the next chapter, 'The face of the stranger'!**


End file.
